The Charger EV Doesn’t Have Fake Shifting, and That Kind of Sucks

Dodge has released a whole lot of new information about the synthetic “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust” system on its newest car, the Charger Daytona EV. The company has also published a video showing off the car doing donuts and acceleration pulls, complete with audio. 

The Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust uses a custom enclosure mounted in the rear lower fascia of the Charger EV, paired with a dedicated amplifier that can produce up to 600 watts of power. Like most performance-minded EV noises, the exhaust uses input from the driver and the car to adjust sound and volume.

Specifically, the Fratzonic exhaust uses inputs like acceleration and deceleration, and makes noises when the car turns on and off. You can even “rev” the Charger EV, or just listen to it idle like any gas-powered car. It’ll also make a distinct noise if you use the “PowerShot” function, which adds 40 horsepower for up to 15 seconds with the push of a button.

A two-minute video released by Dodge shows a Charger Daytona Scat Pack accelerating past a camera before pulling off a smoky donut. After that, we get a few seconds of the car “idling.” It sounds like a real V-8 to us, but obviously, it’s all still fake.

What we don’t hear, strangely, are any simulated gears shifting. After Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N, we suspected every performance EV going forward would have a feature like that, as it enhances the driving experience exponentially, and gives purpose to all of the synthetic noises. A Dodge spokesperson confirmed to Motor1 the Charger does not have any feature of the sort. 

So even if you do enjoy the nice V-8 burble from the Charger EV, there’s no way to bang through gears or bounce off a “redline.” It’s like pairing a Hemi to a CVT. And that sounds like no fun at all.

Are you a fan of the Fratzonic exhaust? Do you think Dodge made the right call not including fake gears? Let us know in the comments.